RFXRage's Review of Xcom: Enemy Unknown

Xcom: Enemy
Unknown is one of those games that is immensely fun to play, but terribly
frustrating other times. What gives Xcom such an advantage over other strategy
games is the uniqueness that it possesses. Turn based strategy has become a
dying genre being replaced by the ever increasing real time strategy genre. As
turn based strategy games become spread far and thin between one cannot but
wonder why this is so. People generally find turn based strategy to be boring,
strategically lacking, and just a drag to play. Xcom, however, proves that not
all generalizations are true.

Xcom’s
storyline is a rather simple one, aliens have invaded earth and the various
countries of the world have set up project Xcom, a paramilitary group, to stop
the alien invaders. Throughout the story you will receive priority missions and
side missions. These priority missions can be done at any time, but there is a
catch. The longer you wait, the more panic rises in countries. If a country
becomes too panicked they may withdrawal from project Xcom. If too many
countries leave project Xcom, you face complete destruction by the aliens and
you lose the entire. Fret not; however, panic levels can be lowered by doing
various missions in the country or by setting up satellites over panicked
countries. Deciding on which country to aid is always an difficult decision and
you always have to take into account the long term and short term affects of
your decision. If that wasn’t enough, you have to constantly attempt to
maintain air dominance with your fighter planes to prevent alien UFO’s from
wrecking havoc on earth. A word of advice; if you don’t like multitasking,
don’t play this game. Personally I find it to be a fun challenge trying to
manage everything.

As for the
gameplay, one would think that it’s impossible to make a turn based strategy game
exciting, but Xcom masterfully proves this to be false. Xcom has a double
action system for soldiers. You can choose to move within a movement area that
allows for another action to be performed such as an attack or you can choose
to “dash” a further distance to cover more ground while sacrificing the ability
to perform another action. Other aspects of the movement system such as the
ability to move through different height levels such as from ground level to
the top of a building or the cover system also provide more strategic options
to the game. Even some of the more subtle aspects of the games such as the
ability to open doors to increase vision range make the strategic experience of
Xcom that much more enjoyable. What makes the game so exciting, however, is the
fact that if you lose a soldier, they’re gone……forever. There’s no respawning,
no extra lives, nothing. You constantly have to face the repercussions of your
actions. This formula of actions that Xcom uses allows for dynamic and risky
play that provide far more excitement than many RTS’s could ever even attempt.

Movement is,
however, only part of what a good turn based strategy needs. Combat mechanics
is what makes or breaks almost all strategy games. Xcom’s combat mechanics
excel in so many ways, but fail in other ways. In order to attack in Xcom, an
enemy must first be in sight range (of course). Based off your soldier’s
weapon, you then get a certain percent of hitting the enemy. This is where the
problems come in. Often times a soldier will have a near perfect chance of
shooting his target, but then somehow misses the shot. Frustration does not
even begin to describe the feeling I get when my highly trained sniper misses a
95% hit chance that would have saved the life of a fellow squad mate.

Despite this
major flaw, I still consider the combat mechanics of Xcom to be a success based
solely on the strategic options and variety of combat. Each soldier gets a
specific class and as they survive missions, they gain ranks and thus gain
abilities. Each class has its own unique perks and special abilities that
change the way they play. These abilities are what make combat so intricate and
great. For example, the sniper class possesses the strongest gun in the game:
the sniper rifle (bet you didn’t guess that one). This rifle takes out most
enemies with a single shot and can make the sniper the most deadly soldier on
the battlefield if used properly. After a sniper class soldier ranks up, he can
also gain the ability to fire twice in one turn or even increase his sight
range to include his squad mate’s sight range too.

One thing
Xcom is not lacking in by any means is variety. Every aspect of the game has
massive variety options associated with it. At the main Xcom base of operations
you have access to advanced research and engineering. In research you can
create improved weaponry, perform alien autopsies, build new armor types, and invent
many other types of gear. You are free to research whatever you see appropriate
at the time so it’s completely up to you how you play. In engineering you can
then buy the items that you just researched. Through engineering you can also
expand your base as you see fit with new facilities such as satellite uplinks
or even alien containment facilities. This freedom to do whatever you want
whenever you want makes for an addicting experience.

All of this
variety, however, requires one thing: resources. Much of the technology
requires salvaged alien tech and of course; money. Money makes the Xcom world
go round. Absolutely everything requires the right amount of funding. Funding
can be obtained in various ways such as payment for missions, selling alien
tech, or receiving money from the council’s monthly report.

The Xcom
project is not the only thing with options; the aliens have tons of variety
also. The alien enemies will vary from frail, stereotypical “greys” to massive,
hulking mutons. Most of the time these aliens will have some sort of an
advantage on you so you have to be extremely resourceful and tactical to come
out of a skirmish unscathed.

All in all,
Xcom: Enemy Unknown is a breath of fresh air for gaming, even if it is a
reboot. The feeling of a mission going unhitched is unparalleled because just
one false move can result in a total strategic catastrophe. Constantly being on
the edge is what I think makes Xcom so appealing. If you want a new and
refreshing gaming experience, then Xcom: Enemy Unknown is the perfect game for
you.